Oh my gosh! How did the high privilege ever come to me to review this book? I am lost in it and continually astonished. Margaret Gibson’s newest book of poems, Not Hearing the Wood Thrush, is ripe and full and endlessly transcendent. Not hearing the wood thrush is a fine art that we would all do well to learn She makes her way and takes us with her through the dozen doors and windows of her poems into the woods, the river, and the star fields.  Continue reading “Book Review: Not Hearing the Wood Thrush ” »

NOTE: In October 2018, 16 sangha members, including Shugen Roshi and Hojin Sensei, travelled to India and Nepal "in the footsteps of the Buddha." Here are some of their reflections and photos. More photos from an earlier blog post here. Continue reading “Sangha Reflections on Buddhist Pilgrimage” »

Dear Sangha, Not being a native speaker of English, living my 75th year of life, hard of hearing—surely I was way back in the line of candidates for Chief Disciple. Thus, it was a big surprise when Shugen Roshi asked me to be Chief Disciple for Spring Ango. Immediately a line from the Shuso Hossen Ceremony became real and very present for me: “I feel like a mosquito trying to bite an iron bull.” Fears of incompetence arose in my consciousness. Continue reading “Shuso’s Letter Spring Ango 2019” »

Michelle Seigei Spark, senior lay student in the Mountains and Rivers Order, spoke recently with Mountain Record about creative process, resilience and joy. Continue reading “Art-Making Joy” »

October 23, 2018—As of this writing, Shugen Roshi and Hojin Sensei, along with 14 fellow sangha members, are nearing the end of their three week pilgrimage in the footsteps of the Buddha. They’re looking forward to sharing their photos and reflections with the rest of us when they return, but we’re getting a head start using some of the images and messages that have been sent back over the past dozen or so days. Continue reading “On Pilgrimage to India” »

by Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi LISTEN TO THIS TALK> FROM THE RECORD OF MASTER YANGSHAN Ho-shang Mi of Ching-chao sent a monastic to ask Yangshan: “Right in this very moment are you dependent on enlightenment?” Yangshan said “There is no absence of enlightenment. Why fall into the secondary?” Ho-shang Mi was a peer of Master Yangshan, a very important Chinese master in our lineage. Here he asks, right in this moment are you dependent upon enlightenment? Continue reading “Practice and Resilience” »

Editorial by Danica Shoan Ankele Dear Reader, Here at the Monastery, we’ve been having deep discussions about the Mountain Record over the past several years. After long conversations and careful reflection among the Mountain Record staff, the Monastery’s abbot, monastics and Board of Directors, we’ve decided it’s time to make a significant change. We’re excited about the vision we have in mind, but we also feel the poignancy of shifting the Mountain Record’s familiar and well-loved format. Continue reading “A New Incarnation” »

An Informal Contemplation on Healing by Lama Rod Owens You’ve got to learn to leave the table when love’s no longer being served. —Nina Simone Are you sure, sweetheart, that you want to be well?...Just so’s you’re sure, sweetheart, and ready to be healed, cause wholeness is no trifling matter. A lot of weight when you’re well. —Toni Cade Bambara, “The Salt Eaters”   When people ask me how I’m doing, I feel a little confused and pause for a moment. In my mind I want to talk about this deep sense of heaviness and despair that feels like mourn­ing...

Technology and Morality in the Age of Climate Change, Overpopulation, and Biodiversity Loss by Richard Heinberg Technology has grown with us, side by side, since the dawn of human society. Each time that we’ve turned to technology to solve a problem or make us more comfortable, we’ve been granted a solution. But it turns out that all of the gifts technology has bestowed on us have come with costs. And now we are facing some of our biggest challenges: climate change, overpopulation, and biodiversity loss. Naturally, we’ve turned to our longtime friend and ally—technology—to get us out of this mess. But are we asking too much...

by Chase Takusei Twichell A wooden Buddha gazes down upon my desk from a small shelf painted the same color as the walls: Chinese Dragon. Beside him, a picture Lucy drew when she was six shows a bird with human face and the words Have fun being a parrot written below it in parrot colors. Earnestly I vow to become one, sleek-feathered, able to fly pathless above human traffic in a kingdom of light and air, no suffering. I can’t go on feigning surprise at the kalpas it’s taken so far, since they’re all my kalpas. I follow the path,...